Whether he's playing for them or against them, Randal Grichuk is the bane of the Royals' existence.
Kansas City acquired him at last year's trade deadline with the hopes of bolstering their outfield, at least from the right side. Instead, Grichuk hit .206/.267/.299 as the Royals failed to mount a September run, and his mutual option was declined after the season.
Facing his short-term former team tonight, Grichuk showed the Royals what they tried to get. He continued to make good on his sudden $1.2 million signing with a four-RBI night, which was all the support Anthony Kay needed. Kay completed six innings for the first time in his MLB career, and together they propelled the White Sox to a sweep over the Royals, which also extended their winning streak to five while extending their overall record into a winning one, just in time for the Crosstown Classic against the Cubs.
Grichuk wasn't around for either team when Kris Bubic set a career high with 11 strikeouts over seven innings in Kansas City's 2-0 victory over the White Sox on April 10. Tonight, he made sure Bubic didn't get out of the first unscathed. After Munetaka Murakami drew the first of his three walks to keep the inning alive, Grichuk swatted a 2-2 sweeper over the left field wall for a 2-1 White Sox lead.
The White Sox spent the rest of the night leading, with Grichuk providing the necessary insurance in the fourth. He came to the plate with the bases loaded and one out after Chase Meidroth and Murakami sandwiched a Miguel Vargas single with walks and redirected a low-and-inside fastball into right center for a two-run single that made it a 4-1 game.
That lead was never threatened. Kay had experienced immediate difficulty by giving up a pair of singles to Maikel García and Bobby Witt Jr. that put runners on the corners. Lane Thomas then put the first run on the board with a sac fly, but he kept the heat off the remainder of the evening.
It wasn't exactly smooth sailing, because Kay didn't record one 1-2-3 inning in seven chances. He just never allowed a rally to form. The closest Kansas City came was in the fifth, when Witt walked with one out and Thomas lined a single to center, but Kay got Salvador Perez to bounce a well-located changeup into a 5-4-3 double play, and the game was more or less in hand from that point forward.
Kay even delivered length when Will Venable pushed him for it. He finished the fifth on 87 pitches, which was more than Erick Fedde threw through five on Tuesday. Venable had to use four relievers to complete that game, and then four more after Noah Schultz fell short of the halfway point on Wednesday.
So Kay returned for the sixth with the hopes of sparing the bullpen an arm, and throwing just seven pitches over four batters, Venable had him start the seventh against lefty Kyle Isbel. That turned out being one batter too many, as Isbel tripled before Tyler Davis came in to relieve him. It ended up adding another run to his tab on an RBI groundout, but otherwise mattered not. Davis retired all three batters he faced, and Sean Newcomb carried it the rest of the way for a two-inning save.
Newcomb entered the game in a save situation, but a fresh reliever wouldn't have qualified. The White Sox restored their four-run lead when Sam Antonacci legged out a double despite his leg grabbing on him to start the eighth, then scored on Derek Hill's single through the middle two batters later, capping off a fine series for the White Sox's other well-traveled right-handed outfielder.
Bullet points:
*Kay ran his record to 3-1 while lowering his ERA to 4.61. He thrived with his breadth, as Statcast registered 22 sweepers, 22 four-seamers, 19 sinkers, 18 cutters, 15 changeups and a slider. Just about all of them were useful for grabbing first-pitch strikes more often than not.
*Tristan Peters replaced Antonacci and played center in the ninth so once Antonacci got back to the dugout, the White Sox didn't let him leave.
*Edgar Quero went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts while batting fifth in the White Sox's weird lineup against lefties.
